Ceramics at Piedras Negras, Guatemala

Current Ceramic Research at Piedras Negras

The majority of recent ceramic research at Piedras Negras has been chronological and typological. Because of problems related to the idiosyncratic collection procedures employed by the Pennsylvania project, the previous ceramic seriation (Holley 1983) under-represents the variety, variability and time depth of the Piedras Negras ceramic sequence. The recent excavations have resulted in a very large and well provenanced ceramic sample and have allowed us to address these issues. The time depth of the sequence has been increased to reflect the presence of a Middle and Late Preclassic occupation at the site and, in addition, the larger ceramic sample has allowed a better accounting of variability within types. This has resulted in an expanded ceramic catalog and more accurate type descriptions (Muñoz and Fitzsimmons 1998; Muñoz 1999a, 1999b, 1999c, 2000, 2001). This more accurate understanding of ceramic variability has allowed us to make several inferences regarding the probable organization of ceramic production at Piedras Negras and processes of technological innovation in the ceramics of that site.

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